WESTWARD EXPANSION and THE EXODUSTERS

In this collection, I put together the general idea of how the Westward Expansion greatly impacted the immigrating population known as exodusters. All in all, the Westward Expansion was a better opportunity for freed African-Americans to get a shot at a better life, as the end of the Civil War didn’t necessarily bring them much hope. Guided by Benjamin “Pap” Singleton, the freed slaves migrated to Kansas with high hopes of an ideal life with the help of several acts like the Homestead act. Willing to set foot in an unknown place, these exodusters set off for another bumpy ride to obtain a better life for their children. Although they didn’t all quite get the promised land they had hoped for, in the end, they were still able to live more freely and with less racial inequality than in the South.